Critics should try having elephants, says president
The president of Botswana has lambasted Western critics of his proposed elephant cull, saying they are welcome to take them to their own country, so ‘‘they would know what the animals are capable of’’.
President Mokgweetsi Masisi delivered a testy response to negative international reports that he was considering a cull along with trophy hunting to manage the country’s elephant population. The meat would be canned for pet food.
Addressing a rally of his supporters yesterday, he said: ‘‘Where do they get the guts to tell us how we should take care of our wildlife? I was in England . . . where I told them their problem was they are talking elephant issues as if there are no people. I said to them that we will give you 200 elephants in England and just let them roam all over, as you want them to in Botswana.’’
The landlocked country has 30 per cent of Africa’s elephants and has long been celebrated as an animal sanctuary, with a low poaching rate compared with its neighbours.
However, a recent census of Botswana’s wildlife revealed a surge in incidents of elephant poaching and a possible decline in overall numbers. Masisi has rejected the findings of the survey team from the charity Elephants Without Borders (EWB) as ‘‘lies’’.
Debates about how to manage animal populations in Africa are constant and intense, particularly around trophy hunting, which its proponents argue provides financial windfalls to communities in wildlife-rich areas.
Yet the proximity of humans and wildlife creates problems, with an increasing number of incidents of elephants and big cats terrorising rural areas and destroying property.
Masisi added: ‘‘We can even add lions, buffalos, leopards and cheetahs. They should know we also have people who are farmers and want to keep their livestock and crops.’’
In addition to lambasting his foreign critics, Masisi’s administration has withdrawn EWB’s wildlife research permit. ‘‘The letter cited improper reporting’ as the reason,‘‘ EWB founder and director Mike Chase said.
– The Times